Placement Guidelines

• Students who plan to continue studying a foreign language that they studied in high school must take the language placement test to determine the appropriate
  language class.
  
  
• Only students with transfer credit from other educational institutions are eligible to enroll in the next course within their language sequence.
  
  
• Students may only take the language placement test once per semester.
  
  
• Students will be provided with a copy of their test score, which will be stored in our database for five years.

Placement Test Process

• Placement Tests are administered through the World Studies Media Center, located
  in Hibbs 425.
  
  
• Students must provide a valid VCU Student ID when signing in at the Media Center.
  
  
• If the score clearly places a student in a given class, the student receives a hard copy
  of their results to be taken to their academic advisor. Undeclared majors please contact
  University College.
  
  
• Students are encouraged to challenge themselves in their pursuit of foreign language
  acquisition. Requests for exemption from this placement test policy must be submitted in writing to the Coordinator of Advising in the School of World Studies. Instructors have the right to verify a student’s level of proficiency and make recommendations to the
  language coordinators and the Director. These guidelines apply to all VCU students
  (freshmen, continuing and transfer).

Placement Test Rubric

Webcape placement test scores are retrievable for up to 5 years.
For more information about Webcape, please click here.

The Latin Placement Test

The Latin Placement Test is a hand-written test made up of 50 multiple choice questions. The scoring rubric for the Latin test is:

102 - must answer 17 out of first 23 questions correctly

201 - must answer 34 out of first 40 questions correctly, sentence translation must be correct

202 - only one error in questions 41-46 allowed (reading on Cicero)

To place out of 202 - Only one error in questions 47-50 allowed (reading on Virgil)

Native & Heritage Speakers

• Foreign language courses through the intermediate (205) level are not open to
  native speakers.
  
  
• With the exception of advanced conversation courses (305, 307 and 311) native speakers or semi-native speakers may be eligible for upper level coursework in their respective languages.
  
  
• All native or semi-native speakers must provide either documentation of university coursework in their native language or take the Placement Test here on campus to determine eligibility for upper level courses.
  
  
• Native and heritage speakers of languages other than French, German, Spanish,
  and Russian may be eligible to have the foreign language requirement waived.
  
  Click here for details on the foreign language requirement waiver.

Students Who Do Not Plan To Take Foreign Language Courses At VCU

• Students who have completed 3 or more years of study of one foreign language at
  the high school level and do not plan to continue taking coursework in that language at VCU, have fulfilled the Humanities and Sciences foreign language requirement through the 102 level.

• Some majors in Humanities and Sciences require language through the intermediate (202) or advanced (300) level. Check the VCU Bulletin for foreign language requirements for your respective major(s).

• The Foreign Language Placement Verification Form is required to verify fulfillment of the foreign language requirement through the 102 level.
  
  Click here to access the Foreign Language Placement Verification Form.
  
  
  

  ---

World Studies Advising Office
Lafayette Hall
312 North Shafer Street
Richmond, VA 23284-2021,
SWSadvising@vcu.edu
(804) 827-1111

World Studies Media Center
Hibbs Building Rm 424 & 426
abrinckwirth@vcu.edu
(804) 828-2320